The result means the Blues are still two points behind the Gunners but have a game in hand over the north London side.

Speaking after full-time, Hayes said: ‘They had the first half, we had the second in terms of finding some sort of stride for us, I thought we struggled in the first half, though we looked solid.’

The Blues created a number of goalscoring opportunities, particularly in a strong second-half performance.

Deep into stoppage time we had a shout for a penalty when Niamh Charles’ cross into the box was blocked by the arm of Leah Williamson.

Hayes added: ‘I thought we created big chances, but I’ve seen us be more decisive in the second half. The talking point is going to be the penalty that wasn’t given though. So, yes a draw is fair except from our perspective, it’s a clear penalty.’

While the game did not produce any goals, it was a brilliant advert for women’s football and Hayes praised the quality of both sides after an exhilarating contest.

‘It’s a great effort for the league, it’s brilliant in terms of watching two teams on show in good form.

‘It felt for us a little bit like it was the seventh game in 21 days, that’s the challenge sometimes of producing swashbuckling performances. Even though we had four or five days between this one, I thought the accumulation showed in us tonight and you can see the toll it took on Erin [Cuthbert].’

‘It was great to have Ji [So-Yun] back, we’ve missed Ji in this period. While I didn’t think we were free flowing by our standards going forward, I thought we were rock-solid defensively.’

In the build-up to yesterday’s fixture Hayes had stated that she thinks the race for the league title will go down to the very last day, something she reiterated at full-time.

‘It’s too tight to call it. If I’d have been sitting here having lost it or won it I’d say the same thing. I just feel like the games players have to produce week in, week out, it’s tough.

‘We’ve got a spell when we come back in after an international break where we’ve got game after game. It’s hard to keep producing all of the time and there will still be twists and turns, I stand by my statement.’

It is the international break now and the Blues are not back in action until Saturday 26 February when we host Leicester City at Kingsmeadow in the fifth round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup. Tickets are can be purchased here.